It is important to note that insults have not started again. In fact, insults against the prophet sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam have never stopped over the time. Many people distorted his character, mocked him, forged lies about him, ridiculed him, … These new insults whether it be caricatures, dirty videos, … might be new but insults have not started today.

History tells us that most of his enemies, sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam, did not insult him or harm him physically except a few disbelievers such as Abu Jahl, Al Walid ibn Mughira, and a few others.

During his time, the prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam, defended himself, the sahaba defended him and we today defend him.

Allah ta’ala is defending him:

Allah ta’ala dends him, this is the most important protection.

Allah ta’ala says: “We are indeed sufficient for your defence against people who mock you”

This divine protection is not only for the Messenger sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam, but also for his followers over the times:

Allah ta’ala says: “We indeed defend our Messengers and those who believe in this life and in the next”

Although physical harm to the body of the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam stopped, verbal insults continued in Madina till some Sahaba wondered when insults and insecurity would end. The answer came in the Qur’an:

Allah ta’ala says: “Allah has promised Muminin who do good among you that He will give you the upper hand on the lands …”

How the Prophet defended himself:

Perhaps the most important medium used by the enemies of the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam in him time was poetry. That was the media of that time. Poets were highly revered by people among Arabs and their poems could affect people’s perceptions and behaviour.

As an example there was a poor man who had 8 daughters and people didn’t ask anyone of them for marriage because he was not rich. One day he heard that a well-known poet was on his way to their area. He set a fire near his tent. This was a habit of the generous people as this would be considered as an invitation to the travellers who pass by strange lands.

Although the man had only one camel, he slaughtered it and offered its meat to the poet in large container ... The poet has been impressed by the generosity of the man and in an ecstatic moment authored a poem in praise of the host. The poem was so popular that it spread all around Arabia, and within a year rich and famous people asked him his daughter in marriage and he himself became a famous man in the whole of Arabia. Such was the power of poetry in that time.

So when the prophet sallaAlalh ‘alayhi wa sallam was insulted using poetry he appointed Sayiduna Hassaan ibn Thabit as a poet to defend and ridicule the disbelievers. In one hadith the prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

“O Allah support Hassaan with Jibril”

Sayiduna Hassaan lived a very long life, one undred and twenty years, 60 of which before Islam and the other 60 in Islam. In some aspects of poetry, particularly those related to genealogy of Arabia, Hassan was helped by Sayiduna Abu Bakr as he was a great expert in genealogy.

Another well know Sahabi who defended the prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam using poetry was Kaab ibn Malik al-Ansari who was one of the three sahaba who did not join the battle of Tabuk. His forgiveness was announced in divine verses in the Qur’an.

“O you who believe be with the Truthful”

The Truthful (in plural) here refers to Sayiduna Kaab; however, the scholars of tasawwuf refer to this verse as a proof for the following a Shaykh.

Later on in history, Christians insulted the pophet sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam. Although they knew nothing about him, they insulted him because they perceived him as a threat to their faith.

As a general rule, people who use insults are low level people. There are other people such as orientalists who look for weaknesses or week narrations to use against Muslims.

People who insult the prophet in our time:

People who insult the Messenger of Allah sallah alayhi wa sallam in the west can be classified in 3 categories:

1. Those who insult him because they saw a bad example from Muslims. When they see people cheating, when they see people who act in the opposite of their religion, when they see people killing others around the world … This leads them to draw a wrong conclusion

2. People who insult him out of ignorance of him sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam . This is the case with most fanatic Christians who derive their “knowledge” from orientalist.

Orientalist are not people who study Islam in the same way as we do. They are not interested in learning Fiqh of worship or transactions. They interested in learning about the history of the sciences and how details of rulings are derived and so on, in order to find weaknesses and sow the seed of doubt in Muslim’s and non-Muslim’s hearts.

3. People who hate Islam and Messenger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam.

It is not the first part of the Shahada that makes one Muslim, it is the second part which refers to the Messenger of Allah.

Christians and Jews say “There is no god but Allah” although they interpret it in their way. Christians say He is one but three … but they believe in one God. It is when we testify ingthat sayiduna Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah that people become Muslim. We know Allah through the Messenger of Allah, we read the words of Allah who were sent through the Messenger of Allah, WE believe in Moosa, Isa and other Messengers because of the Messenger of Allah.

We owe everything in this life and in the next to the Messenger of Allah sallaAlah ‘alayhi wa sallam.

The two first categories can be cured. The cure of ignorance in knowledge and the cure misunderstanding is clarification. However, there is no cure for hate.

The best way to react against the third category is to show them mercy, compassion and avoid increase their hatred. Sometimes, it is better to ignore them.

Action vs. Reaction:

We have been policy makers around the world for over 1200 years of the Khilafa. It is since the Othoman Khilfa weakened that we become more reactionary. In the past, when Muslims said something, it was that that was followed in the lands and seas. During that last 200 years and particularly during the last 100 years since the Khilafa has fallen that no one is paying attention to us.

Having said that, Muslims have shown that they do not react properly either; they are led by anger and transgress rulings of Islamic law. It is well know that every person is only responsible for his own acts.

Allah ta’ala says: “A burden of soul cannot be borne by another soul”

Yet, in Sudan for example, demonstrators have burnt the embassy of Germany because of a movie made in America. What did Germany or Germans do?

In fact, the movie has nothing to do with all of Americans as people. In Libya, they killed the ambassador of America. This is wrong. It is forbidden in Islamic law to kill ambassadors or envoys.

The prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam received envoys from the false prophet Musaylima the liar. Neither the prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam nor the Sahaba harmed them. They were in fact treated generously and kindly by all the people.

This is how the prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam treated envoys from a false prophet who considered himself at the same level as the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah layhi wa salllam and who said to him:”I am a prophet and you are a prophet; let us divide the world between us.”

Despite all of this, the envoys were allowed to deliver their message from Musaylima the liar, and they were well treated until they went back to their leader.

We are not reacting like the prophet sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam.

A Jew who read about the description of Messenger of Allah in the Torah wanted to test him. It was stated that the Messenger of Allah does not get angry (for his own sake). So the Messenger of Allah bought crops from the Jew with delayed payment to a specific date. This was common practice in that time. The Jew came and took the Messenger of Allah from his collar and said: O Muhammad, pay your debt. Having seen this brutal false accusation (the payment date was not yet due) and insult to the prophet sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam, Sayiduna Umar was about to take the kill the man with his sword. But the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam stoped him and said to him: “You should have commended the man to ask for his right properly and for me to pay as agreed”. He then asked Sayiduna Bilal to pay the man and to give him an additional compensation because he was frightened by Sayiduna Umar. Upon seeing this, the man testified that the sayiduna Muhammad is indeed the Messenger of Allah.

In another instance, and this story is by the way taught at kindergarten’s level in the Islamic world, There was a Jewish neighbour who used to put dirt and thorns near the door of the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam. Once, the Prophet sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam did not see thorns and dirt near his house, so he inquired about the man and he was told that he got sick. The Messenger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam went to visit him and because of this the man embraced Islam.

We should react in the same way as the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam. Imam Abu Hanifa used to complete one reading of the Qur’an per night. One of his neighbours, used to sing a sad song about separation and negligence of a lover every night and he didn’t seem to have a nice voice either. But the Imam never complained against him. If this would happen today, people wouldn’t react like this. One night, he didn’t hear the man singing, so he inquired about his stated and was told that the man was arrested. The Imam being well respected, he guaranteed the man and he was released from prison and told him: “don’t you see we haven’t forgotten or left you”. Because of this the man repented and become one of the students of the Imam.

The way we should react to insults against the prophet sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam can be derived from his way. When the prophet sallaAllah ‘alayhi wa sallam is insulted in the Muslim country, it becomes incumbent upon the Ruler to apply the Islamic law ruling in the land under his authority.

If the insult takes place or the insulter runs away to a land away from the reach of the Muslim Ruler such in the western countries, the Ruler has to react by initiating a similar or better act than the insult. If they made a bad movie about the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah ‘layhi wa sallam, we should make a movie in the praise of him. If they used Media to insult the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, we should use similar means in praise him in our lands.

I heard that Muslims in Oslo gave away roses to people during a demonstration. This is a good way to react. I generally dislike demonstrations because they can easily degenerate and become violent. Sometime also it is better to ignore some kind of people.

The proper response to insults is to show the character of the Messenger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam. We in fact need to react in everyday life by showing the character and behaviour of the Messnger of Allah sallaAllah alayhi wa sallam with our children, our family, our neighbour and people in general. We need to learn how to react and we begin in our private circle, then neighbours then the whole society.